Society has become more transient as transportation has advanced. Airline travel has enabled people to cost effectively travel across the United States and the world. Similarly, automobile and other forms of transportation have enabled people to travel locally in a very cost-effective manner. Societal wealth has also increased with advancement in technology, real estate, and other investments. Along with societal wealth increasing, transient nature of society, and ease of transportation, people own multiple homes or travel for extended periods of time.
In addition to the evolution of transportation, so too has telecommunications evolved. No longer are telecommunications limited to the public switch telephone network (PSTN). Today, consumers have mobile telephone and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telecommunications options. In fact, many consumers have opted to use mobile telephones or VoIP telephones as their primary telecommunications option and either limited or eliminated using home wireling telephones that communicate over the PSTN.
One problem with eliminating home wireline telephone service is that, as well known, wireline telephones that are powered by the PSTN generally operate during power outages. Mobile telephones and VoIP telephones operate only as long as their batteries do. And, during a power outage, the batteries of these devices cannot be recharged.
Although consumers understand safety concerns, economic costs are also a factor when determining whether or not to maintain wireline telephone service at a residence. For transient consumers who split their time between two or more residences or travel for extended periods of time, it makes little sense to pay for home wireline telephone service when not used for extended periods of time. For example, “snowbirds” or people who travel from the north to the south or other warmer climates during the winter, often cancel their home wireline telephone service during their travels to save costs. Many snowbirds simply never resume their home telephone service even though safety concerns exist during power outages, which is problematic for both the consumers and the local telecommunications service provider. For the local telecommunications service provider, transient customers who cancel and do not resume their home wireline telephone service ultimately cost the local telecommunications service provider a lot of money and advertising revenue in the long run.